April 30, 2012 - The International Air Transport
Association’s (IATA) 2012 Operations Committee (OPC)
agreed to four main priorities to guide IATA’s safety
initiatives over the next 12 months. These are:

Pilot and Engineer Training: Accommodating the growth in
demand for air connectivity with trained pilots and
engineers is a priority. IATA will facilitate this with
the IATA Quality and Training Initiative (ITQI), which
moves into its implementation stage.

The focus will be on working with the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International
Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) and
regulators to shift to a competency-based approach to
training for pilots and engineers.

·
Training modernization is based on ensuing the core
competencies of pilots and mechanics as defined in the
first phase of ITQI (2007-2011). Alongside training
modernization, ITQI will also promote mutual recognition
of standards for pilot and engineer licensing and
certification of flight simulators.

Enhanced
IOSA:The Enhanced
IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) program will include
measures to ensure continuous conformity with IOSA standards and
recommended practices (ISARPS) with quality control processes
and self-auditing in between IOSA’s two-year audit cycle.

A timeline
for the implementation of Enhanced IOSA will be proposed for
endorsement at the next OPC meeting in October. Since the end of
2008, IOSA has been a condition of IATA membership and has been
supported by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the
European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and ICAO along with other
key regulators around the globe.

Ground
Operations:A
dedicated IATA ground operations team was created to support the
IATA Ground Handling Committee as it drives safety and
efficiency improvements. The Committee’s agenda includes (1) the
further development and implementation of the just released IATA
Ground Handling Manual (IGOM), (2) developing a standard set of
ground handling instructions, and (3) the further development of
the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO). These are
cornerstones of the industry’s effort to improve ground safety
while reducing the $4 billion cost of ground damage.

Harmonization: The
OPC urged governments to focus on the implementation of targeted safety
measures instead of adding costly and cumbersome regulations that do
little to improve safety. Over the next months, IATA will submit three
priority areas for industry to work with ICAO, the US FAA and EASA with
a goal of harmonization.

“Safety remains
the top priority. We have a full agenda to make an already safe industry
even safer.Industry and
governments have always cooperated to achieve our common goals based on
global standards and harmonization. The need to take those even further
in the areas of training, ground safety, and auditing will be our
priority over the coming year,” said Guenther Matschnigg, IATA’s Senior
Vice President for Safety, Operations and Infrastructure.

The OPC took place alongside the IATA Ops Conference which was jointly
hosted by IATA and the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport
Association (ALTA) in Rio de Janeiro from 16-18 April. With Brazil as
the setting, there was also a focus on infrastructure preparedness to
meet the demands of the World Cup in 2014 and the 2016 Olympics
including the optimization of air routes and implementation of
Performance-Based Navigation.

“The major world events that Brazil will be hosting are
a catalyst for infrastructure improvements. These are
needed to accommodate Latin America’s long-term needs in
light of aviation’s key role in the region’s robust
economic growth,” said Matschnigg.